Making Delinquent Parents Pay

May 16, 1992

When liberals and conservatives in Congress get together behind an issue, you know it's a winner. Reps. Thomas J. Downey, a liberal New York Democrat, and Henry J. Hyde, a conservative Republican from Illinois, have come up with a proposal to enforce better the payment of child support by absent parents. Other child-support-enforcement measures have also been introduced, including one from Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.

Non-payment of child support costs the country dearly. For women working in low-wage jobs, child support can make the difference between bringing up their children in poverty or comfort. Many families are forced to subsist on welfare because non-custodial fathers don't pay their court-ordered child support. As Jon M. Alander, Connecticut's human resources commissioner, has pointed out, the taxpayers' enemy isn't the stereotyped welfare queen, but the absent parent who flees responsibility for his children.

The Downey-Hyde proposal would guarantee a minimum annual payment ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 to single parents. It would give the responsibility for collecting and distributing support payments to the Internal Revenue Service. Delinquent parents would have their child-support payments deducted from their wages.

The bill includes the creation of 300,000 public-service jobs for unemployed fathers, to enable them to earn money to support their children.

States would still be responsible for identifying the children's fathers. They would also determine how much the absent parent should pay.

Some academics have long espoused the idea of having the federal government take over the collection of child support, since many delinquent fathers move across state lines. Coupled with a system of minimum child support from the government, they say, it would also free families from the stigma associated with Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

The idea of handing over collection to the IRS is seductive. Few people escape that agency's tentacles, and it would eliminate the need for a new agency to collect child support.

Some critics fear the plan would discourage mothers from working. The current welfare system already does this. But having a

guaranteed minimum amount of child support each year might enable a mother to pay for day care to get job training or continue her education.

Coupled with increased support for day care (which would make it possible for more poor women to work) and job creation (so fathers could work), such a program could relieve taxpayers of a significant part of the welfare burden.

Most important, it would improve the lives of children, who are living in poverty in ever-increasing numbers